Many home appliances, such as, for example, gas cook tops, have a grate or pan support that is positioned above a heat source, such as a gas burner. The grate often sits on a sheet metal upper surface, or mainsheet, of the cook top and is supported by a number of feet. Often four or six feet are used to support a single grate. Grates are usually made of a rigid, strong, material such as cast metal. Because the grates are rigid and are usually supported by more than three feet, the grates have a tendency to rock due to the grate or the mainsheet not being perfectly flat.
A rocking grate can be an unstable support for a pan being used on the cook top, which can result in spilled food items and/or an unlevel cooking surface. A grate that is not stable and tends to rock also gives an appearance of low quality to the cook top.
Also, grates made of metal, such as cast iron, can be very heavy. A heavy grate having metal or hard rubber feet can create a loud bang when dropped from only a small distance above a sheet metal mainsheet. This loud noise is undesirable and the impact of the metal or hard rubber feet can damage the mainsheet and/or grate.